Bitefile Exergames

Of the eight articles Bitescience collected (see below), all reported positive effects of exergames on young people’s physical health. The great majority of the studies took place in the United States, and the exergames tested in the studies varied from interactive dance video games and abdominal games played via the PlayStation to Wii Boxing, X-Box’s Kinect Adventures, and Xavix Sports games.

Health benefits:

Exergames can be a useful tool to increase children’s health. Specifically, exergames can be effective in improving children's:

• pleasure and enjoyment while being active;
• active time during physical education class;
• physical school performances, such as the one-mile-run test;
• BMI rates on the short term (< one year); and
• mathematical insights (!).

Factors for success:

It is crucial that children enjoy playing the game. To increase exergame enjoyment, physical effort, exercise time, and (future) play motivation, exergames must contain:

• possibilities for children to play together with others (online or offline);
• a competition component where players are able to compete against each other (online or offline);
• other highly stimulating features, such as rules, points, rewards, and feedback.